It’s not often you find yourself smack dab in the middle of a spot news story. But it happened last week directly in front of Park Place on McKinney Avenue.
We were told that Oliver Landing developer David Perehudoff would be handing the keys over to the strata council, and I thought this would be a great photo opportunity. So did he.
It has been three long years since residents moved out of their condominiums because the building’s safety was questioned after cracks appeared in the walls. Was it an earthquake or natural settlement over the years (a topic of debate)? But the million dollar question is, like the one Lawrence Olivier asked Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man – is it safe?
Anyway, I was first to arrive at Park Place, so I hopped the barricade and walked toward the abandoned complex, which looked a little eerie, but no ghosts in the windows.
A pile of garbage (looked like old drywall and carpeting) inside the front entrance sat waiting to be hauled away.
It was silent, desolate and neglected, with notices on panes of glass. But still standing.
Feeling like someone was watching me, I turned and walked back to the sidewalk, where strata president Keryn Timmerman was waiting outside her mini-van.
I was apparently Perehudoff’s surprise for Timmerman, who wasn’t expecting the media to show up for the meeting. She said she didn’t want the media present, and I obliged, saying I understood. Just as I prepared to leave, Perehudoff arrived in his vehicle.
I looked at him, and he looked at me and asked if everything was good. I shook my head and said no, and that’s when the argument between him and Timmerman broke out in the street.
I won’t go into great detail because it was a private matter, but I was caught right in the middle. The gist of it: Perehudoff stressed that his engineers found nothing wrong with the building; it was safe to move back in. But Timmerman said there were too many outstanding issues that needed fixing, so the developer said he would fix these “cosmetic” issues.
It went back and forth, with some accusations bantered about. In the end, the keys were handed over but nothing was resolved at that moment.
Perehudoff later apologized to the Chronicle for his outburst, saying he was expecting a hug from the strata council for all the work he did trying to get the owners back into their homes. But nobody was giving out hugs that day.
How sad and unfortunate because it was supposed to be a happy ending after three years of stress, heartache and uncertainty.
Lyonel Doherty, editor
